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01/08/2006 04:12:00 PM · #1 |
I was going through the shapes challenge and just had a question pop up to me...how much does the title of an image make an impact on you about the picutre? Does it ever affect the way you vote, or your perception of the picture itself, or is it only the picture that holds your interest?
Just curious |
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01/08/2006 04:17:45 PM · #2 |
Titles can have a very large impact on my perception of the image. I consider them to be part of the image, for challenge purposes. I won't vote down an excellent, on-topic image for a poor title, but many times the title itself will steer me gently in the direction the photographer wishes me to go, conceptually. Titles are worth spending time on, often.
Robt. |
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01/08/2006 04:21:21 PM · #3 |
some people say they dont pay attention to titles, i say bs. its the first thing you really see in a pic challenge, it sets the mood.
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01/08/2006 04:23:01 PM · #4 |
Titles are very important. They are the tags that others will carry away with them -- a symbol to refer back to the image again later. They are a vital part of the presentation of the image, just as vital as the choice of frame and matting in a gallery.
A good title will not save a bad image, but a bad title can take away from a good image. Choose your titles carefully ... but don't stress over it. ;P
David
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01/08/2006 04:24:04 PM · #5 |
I'm with Bear. I won't vote ya down for a bad title. I will point it out in comments though. But, a really good title does make me look fondly at the photo.
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01/08/2006 04:50:35 PM · #6 |
| I don't always look at the title. Sometimes the titles are the only thing connecting the image to a challenge, and when i vote if the title is a stretch, they don't get credit from me. A title can help an image, but usually it can't hurt it too much, at least when i'm voting. |
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01/08/2006 05:12:36 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by android9:
Does it ever affect the way you vote, or your perception of the picture itself |
Mostly when there's a spelling mistake. |
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01/08/2006 05:15:00 PM · #8 |
It's a tough one because there are so many variants that come into my decision to take account of the title in the vote. I really don't think there's a one-size-fits-all answer so please excuse me if I this is a bit long. It's a very important question and my personal process in considering titles is complex.
DPC is wonderful entertainment and great hobby but more importantly it is a superb learning environment. Many people would love to photograph for a living and so I regard challenge pics in the context also of the outside world.
In the real world of photography (the one we'd all like to join) photographs don't have titles. They have to stand on their own. In advertising there's no caption. In photojournalism, the image has to stop the reader flipping pages, not the title. In magazines, the illustration is in support of a story and must continue to tell that story. In exhibitions the card is so small you have to put your glasses on - the title is not part of the image viewing process. In National Geographic, they don't have titles, the image tells a story and then there's an expanded version of the story with the photo.
That's not to say captions are irrelevant because a really good caption enhances the story that has already been told by the image. Never is the image supplementary to the title, it's always the other way around. Yet every week in DPC we see titles propping up images, sometimes desperately.
Some of my considerations when voting are ...
- Outstanding image which is DNMC but with an on-challenge title (i.e. the Tiger in Oops) = no more than 6. This is a challenge site, not a pretty picture one.
- On challenge image with a strange title = vote on the image, no penalty
- On challenge image with a stupid irrelevant title = vote on the image, no penaty but comment on the title
- Great title that rocks you = vote on the image
- Title that puts an already good story-telling image in perspective = possibly an extra voting point. I'm thinking here of an outstanding waterscape with a caption "Trondheim Fjord". Now I know where it is I maybe feel more involved with it.
For me then, the overriding essential element is that the image can support the story without undue title assistance.
Everyone is different and that's why DPC is such a great leveller - so many voters are cast that individual eccentricities don't unfairly influence the vote.
Brett |
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01/08/2006 05:17:16 PM · #9 |
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01/08/2006 05:56:18 PM · #10 |
| Titles tie the photo to the photographer - I feel that they matter. Actually, they matter quite a bit to me and I will vote a photo up with a very good title that ties everything together. But that's me. |
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01/08/2006 06:11:51 PM · #11 |
i think titles are important, ad sometimes its difficult to express what you want to without them.
For my OOPS entery, i got a comment that if i have to explain it in title its not a good entery. Well point well accpeted, but can a recked building and bareen tree could say that its a place where Atom bomb exploided. No, it can not. If someone has visited that site he/she can make out, but image was for the people to view who has never visited that place. In all i concluded that there is no way i could tell people what it is without telling them in title.
So I feel titles are important, they tell the story behind the photograph. |
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01/08/2006 06:34:23 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by zxaar:
i think titles are important, ad sometimes its difficult to express what you want to without them.
For my OOPS entery, i got a comment that if i have to explain it in title its not a good entery. Well point well accpeted, but can a recked building and bareen tree could say that its a place where Atom bomb exploided. No, it can not. If someone has visited that site he/she can make out, but image was for the people to view who has never visited that place. In all i concluded that there is no way i could tell people what it is without telling them in title.
So I feel titles are important, they tell the story behind the photograph. |
However a better title than "Building where A-bomb of Hiroshima exploded, (an Oops - we will never forget)" would be "The Tree that Survived Hiroshima". Maybe? |
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01/08/2006 06:38:18 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by _eug:
However a better title than "Building where A-bomb of Hiroshima exploded, (an Oops - we will never forget)" would be "The Tree that Survived Hiroshima". Maybe? |
May be yes.
I wished to post two three more pics but since i am not member, i do not have portfolio. I would do something to post them today. Its one place to visit. |
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01/08/2006 08:12:01 PM · #14 |
I think you all make very good points. I'm in agreeance with Kiwipix and how he does his assesment. This came up because I ran across a picture in the shapes piece that to me the title actually distractedfrom the impact of the picture, and I had a moment where I was torn with how to vote because of that.
Thanks for all your responses, it's really nice to see other peoples opinions on things.
ETA: to fix a spelling mistake.
Message edited by author 2006-01-08 20:12:32. |
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01/09/2006 05:23:46 PM · #15 |
I wanted to leave my entry in the recent 'Mother' challenge without a title, but as I had to put something I just titled it '-'.
It may be a bit pretentious, but I thought a title would have detracted from the image, as it could be interpreted in different ways. Any title, and I did have a couple in mind, would have led the viewer toward my interpretation rather than leave it up to them. |
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01/09/2006 05:37:58 PM · #16 |
I think it depends on the image. Most of my images rely heavily on titles. Take my most recent "Mother" entry for example titled "Duality". In retrospect, "Raw Duality" probably would've been more appropriate.
I don't think the title was necessary, but it did emphasize the point I was trying to make.
Other images I would prefer to leave untitled and allow the viewer to get what they want from the image without any influence from me. For example:
But that's just me. |
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01/09/2006 05:45:12 PM · #17 |
The Challenge have a name so if all is right and what we are doing here name is irrelevant, I just look if picture is in range of challenge and if it is I start to examine the work and give a cirque, but if it was a show or exhibition I think name is a big role in picture
Originally posted by android9:
I was going through the shapes challenge and just had a question pop up to me...how much does the title of an image make an impact on you about the picutre? Does it ever affect the way you vote, or your perception of the picture itself, or is it only the picture that holds your interest?
Just curious |
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01/09/2006 05:47:05 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by saintaugust:
some people say they dont pay attention to titles, i say bs. its the first thing you really see in a pic challenge, it sets the mood. |
some people really don't pay attention to titles- I got this on my pic titled " Sandpaper Hieroglyphics"
Originally posted by tristalisk:
I like it Granular hieroglyphs. I have a feeling this is just a realy cool sandpaper and we are all being made to look like fools. |
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